Why do white Americans attack Latin and African Americans for bad english?

Question

Yet American spell english words wrong.
Example COLOR instead of COLOUR.
Look I am not claiming to be an English expert because I am South African and engilsh is one of our 11 official languages anyway, if you are going to correct someone then you have to be doing it right yourself.

Trust me I am not planning on going to America why would I do that to myself.
I just wanted to understand better thats all.

Answer 1

I would say that a majority of us do not attack people for bad english, so long as they are trying. There are those bad seeds that will criticize anyone. Heck, we give each other a hard time about our regional accents. West coasters make fun of east coasters and southerners make fun of northerners, etc.
But, when it comes to Black (African) Americans, these people know how to speak English. They were born speaking English, they were taught English in our schools and yet they "choose" to speak this thing (Ebonics) that they call English. Which, in reality, is a "purposeful" butchery of the language.
And, as with most everything they do, it is "meant" to piss off or irritate the white people. The pants that hang off their rears, showing their underwear; the gold and diamond things they wear on their front teeth, wearing the hats sideways, putting huge wheels on small cars with those things that keep turning when they stop, reclining the drivers seat so far back that you can barely see someone is driving (not to mention they cannot adequately drive in that position), all of this is designed to get attention. And it does.
We, white people, avoid these blacks at all costs. Then they cry discrimination when people are afraid of them and don't want to help them. All I have to say, is "you did it to yourself". No "normal" acting black person has any problem at all getting a job and succeeding in the US.
Oh, and you can stay in South Africa. We are all full up here.

Answer 2

For many English words, there are two correct spellings, one is American English spelling, the other is British English spelling. Your example of COLOR and COLOUR is a prime example.

We complain about non-standard English because it is difficult for speakers of Standard English to understand.

Unfortunately, we in the USA do not have an Official Language, though I hope that changes.

How many of the Official South African Languages do you speak? Most Americans are not gifted in languages, so that is one reason we get so irritated with non-standard English.

Doc

Answer 3

In school we are taught the word color is spelled as I have just written it. If a child in school in the U.S.A. were to write colour on his spelling test it would be marked as incorrect. This is not new, I was in second grade a long time age. We cannot always tell where a person is from by looking at them nor do we try. There are deviations in the English Language when you are east of the Atlantic and it is not to insult to say we do something differently on the west side of the Atlantic.

Answer 4

Well, you have a point with the spelling of color but there is difference between American ways of spelling words and the English ways...neither is better than the other. I think grammar/punctuation is the problem....I get more annoyed with run on sentences than a misspelled word here or there (from anybody)....everybody makes spelling mistakes!

Answer 5

Whatever. Color IS the correct spelling of the word. Besides, what do you know of the english language? I do agree however, [not with you] that "get'erdone" is NOT a word, an english one anyway.

Answer 6

Most Americans including me believe that if you are in our country then you need to properly be able to speak our language. In regards to your color/colour example different countries and languages spell color differently in America we spell it COLOR so we are right in speaking/writing the English language. I suggest you learn it if you are going to be in our country, no offense its just the way it is.

Answer 7

I don't ever recall being attacked for bad english. At least, not singled out. In middle school on up, all my classmates were corrected when mistakes were made. It didn't matter if you were black, white, etc... That's the whole concept of school. Now if you are referring to ebonics, slang, etc.. that's another story. But to answer your question, I have never experienced this.

Answer 8

Color is the right spelling for the US. Pointing out spelling mistakes is hardly attacking a person, unless they are especially insecure. You might try treating those as lessons for improvement than personal attacks.

Answer 9

The same way that you are attacking White Americans. Over stupid stuff. Don't compare all white americans to the ones that you have met because we are not all the same. And as far as you not coming that is better because that would make it one less dumba** here in the US.

Answer 10

And by "engilsh" you actually mean "english", right? "Color" and "Colour" are both correct, just different dialects. "Engilsh", however, is not found in any dictionary.